TAKING FLIGHT
Following the ‘Dogzilla’ giant multihull America’s Cup match of 2010, the event entered a period of rapid change that altered not only the Cup, but offshore sailing – and potentially cruising – forever.
After Oracle USA’S wingsailed trimaran won the 33rd Cup, it was announced that the next event would be sailed in wingsail catamarans: the AC72S. But it wasn’t until a grainy photo appeared on an online forum in August 2012 that the potential of those cats was widely realised. Emirates Team New Zealand was foiling.
Progress among the other teams was devastatingly quick as they worked to catch up, but the risks were huge. In May 2013 Andrew ‘Bart’ Simpson was killed as the Artemis AC72 broke up in a capsize.
Elsewhere designers were working to apply foil technology too – but when the Gunboat G4 catamaran very publicly flipped in St Barths in 2015 it confirmed many people’s views that foiling was dangerous and impractical. ‘A ridiculous circus’ one reader condemned it in a letter to Yachting World.
The cyclors concept, which saw ETNZ crew pedalling to generate hydraulic power, did little to dissuade such views.
But the foiling revolution was gaining its own momentum. In 2015 the first foilassisted IMOCA 60s appeared, in 2017 Armel Le Cleac’h won the Vendée Globe in Banque Populaire. Foiling designs were selected for their crowd-pleasing high adrenalin spectacle at events from the Extreme Sailing Series to the 2020 Olympics. Its application is widening: Nautor launched a foil-assisted production yacht, the Clubswan36, this year.
The wobbly ‘flacks’ (foiling tacks) the Cup teams worked so hard to achieve in the early days have been completely superseded by the stable manoeuvres and near constant flight of the AC50S.
If foiling cats can clock 50 knots in the Solent, the next stage is to realise their potential to demolish ocean crossing records. The brave new world for the next decade will be that of the Ultimes, giant multihulls designed to fly around the planet.
The Cup, meanwhile, has taken another quantum leap to create the most extraordinary boat yet, the AC75 monohull.
Even those at the forefront of the foiling revolution have been surprised by its speed. Marc Van Peteghem of VPLP, whose team led designs including many foil-assisted IMOCAS in conjunction with Guillaume Verdier, and the Ultime MACIF, says: “We had the first foil-assisted boat in 1983. But it has moved fast in the last decade because of the progress of the engineering behind it. We now have a dynamic simulator in the office where you can really ‘sail’ virtually and see how the platform, the boat, will behave on foils with different kinds of sea state and conditions.
“The progress that has been made in the engineering, together with the hydro and aerodynamic understanding, and also the modeling and structure, have really helped to make this big step forward.”
Guillaume Verdier, who created ETNZ’S AC72, as well as the Maxi Edmond de Rothschild Ultime, agrees that computer power accelerated foiling development. But, he says, some of the biggest breakthroughs that took place at Emirates Team New Zealand were made possible by a particular
combination of people and the attitude of the team [he wanted to namecheck every one for their contribution, but they are too numerous].
“I was very lucky to be there at that moment in time. The beauty of that campaign on the AC72 was that New Zealand decided to bring people from a big variety of backgrounds.”
The atmosphere of the team he says, was one of collaboration not competition. No idea was too ambitious.
“The philosophy of Team New Zealand is to say we throw the stones far forward, as far as we can, and see if we can grab it. The idea was that a foiling boat would be a crazy thing to grab. We knew it would be fast but did not think it was stable. But we found a solution.”
Is foiling the future? “It’s opened the flood gates for a new and exciting vision for sailing, and is getting the youth interested and excited. I think, in the long term, it will keep our sport current and thriving,” comments Dee Caffari.
Fellow solo skipper Mike Golding is equally excited by the prospect, but urges a note of caution: “In 2010 I would never have believed it possible that in 2019 I would be in the cockpit of an IMOCA 60 flying at more than 30 knots in less than 20 knots of wind – it’s truly amazing and, of course, very exciting. The pace of change right now is quick.
“There will be costs, there will be injuries and far worse; it’s inevitable. While sailing has never looked more exciting, to prevent ‘disaster’ somehow the sport and organisers need to confront the changes with strong controls.”
How much faster can they go? “There are physical limits,” Van Peteghem acknowledges. “There is cavitation, and we know that above 43-45 knots it’s difficult to go faster because of that.
“For the moment there is that physical barrier – you can get foils to go above this physical limit, but they would probably not be good getting to the limit. So there’s a trade-off. But I am trusting we will overcome this limit – we’ll find a way!”
When it comes to the around the world sailing, Verdier says, “We can go much faster.”
He compares allowing foiling daggerboards but not rudder elevators on the IMOCAS to allowing a plane with flaps on the wing but not the tail. “It’s kind of crazy to think of flying a plane like that, it makes it way harder to sail and a bit more dangerous.
“We could go about 8 knots faster. Or if you decided not to go 8 knots faster it would make the pitch much smoother on the boat. The guys are suffering, and will suffer a lot. I forsee that the boats of the future will be easier to sail, they will be more efficient with a lower centre of effort and easier to trim.
You will be able to go faster, more easily.”